David Letterman

From Indianapolis

Michael Jackson

Of course, Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana!
He was born 29 August 1958 to Joe Jackson, a steelworker, and his wife, Katherine.
He died 25 June 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Various links about his death:

The World Mourns Michael Jackson

Tricky Steps From Boy to Superstar

The Passing of a Pop Icon - Video Library - The New York Times

His Moves Expressed as Much as His Music

A Sequined Glove That Mesmerized the World

Remembering Michael Jackson: The Thrill That Was "Thriller"

The M.J. Comeback We’ll Never See

Slate on Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson: Beyond Music

Michael Jackson (CNN)

Michael Jackson (Salon)

Jackson Reaction

Jackson Crossover

Michael Jackson

Jackson (Huffington Post)

Demerol Shot Caused Death (TMZ)

Jackson (Huffington Post)

Remembering Jackson (Daily Beast)

Capriole Farms

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National Harbor, Md. (June 18, 2009) – Visit Old Hickory Steakhouse at Gaylord National Resort and spend an hour with the Capital Region’s only full-time Maitre d’Fromage, and you’ll soon realize you’re not speaking with an amateur. An expert on the complexities of fine cheese – its flavors, textures, heritages, aging processes and wine mates – Carolyn Stromberg offers for her guests’ enjoyment an ever-changing variety of more than two dozen artisanal cheeses, painstakingly nurtured in the restaurant’s own cheese cave.

But, as fine-tuned as her cheese pedigree is, Stromberg doesn’t intimidate. Instead, she’s often described as being “as approachable as her cheeses; and as lovely as the care put into making them.”
Her biggest passion is sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm. So for those times opportunities to experiment or entertain at home, she offers her tips for assembling the perfect summer cheese plate:

• If you plan to serve wine with your cheese, you should select the wine first, then the cheeses. For summer, lighter wines are de rigeur: Sauvignon blanc or a sparkling wine are perfect. For example, a rich and creamy triple-crème like Brillat-Savarin will pair perfectly with a light and sparkly dry champagne. Or, try pairing one wine with five cheeses, or five wines and five cheeses.
  

• Goat and young sheep milk cheeses are at their peak in the summer. Select a soft goat cheese such as Valençay from the Loire Valley, which has an ashed rind; a young goat’s milk cheese; or a blend of goat, sheep and cow milk like La Tur.

• A bleu cheese can also be a great choice, as some bleus lean toward flavors that are bright, clean and citrusy. Stromberg is fond of Black River Blue from Wisconsin.

• Aged cheeses are refreshing in summertime as well. Try Garrotxa, from the Basque region of Spain. An aged goat’s milk cheese, its flavor is mellow, nutty and approachable. Another is Pecorino Ginepro, an aged sheep’s milk cheese from Italy with bright, tangy flavors that is soaked in crushed juniper berries and balsamic vinegar.

• Ask the cheesemonger at your cheese shop, farmer’s market, or web vendor for their personal recommendations. Be sure to sample first if you can, and as Stromberg says, “Eat what you like!”

• Stromberg also suggests you try a themed cheese plate. For example, you can select five types of goat cheese; samplings from different regions of France; or nouveau artisanal offerings of creative domestic cheeses rubbed with spices or herbs, such as coffee or lavender.

• Serve your soft cheese selections with a plain baguette or wafer-thin plain crackers. Fruit – green apples, grapes, cherries or plums – and nuts – Spanish marcona almonds, pecans or candied walnuts – are excellent accompaniments as well.

• If serving a rustic, informal cheese board from which guests serve themselves, each cheese should be served with its own knife to avoid mixing the flavors. If presenting a more traditional, formal cheese plate to each guest, place the mildest cheese at the six o’clock position (closest to the bottom center) on the serving plate. Moving clockwise, the cheeses should progress from mildest to strongest.

• Don’t forget to give the cheese time to come to room temperature before serving. Soft cheeses should be removed from the refrigerator half an hour before serving; hard cheeses an hour.

Have fun exploring – and be sure to visit Stromber at Old Hickory Steakhouse to report back on your summer cheese plate!

About Maitre d’Fromage Carolyn Stromberg
Carolyn Stromberg is passionate about cheese – so passionate, she has made it her life’s work. The only dedicated Maitre d’Fromage in the Washington, D.C. region, she satisfies guests at the Old Hickory Steakhouse at Gaylord National Resort nightly with a hand-selected variety of cheeses from her collection housed in the restaurant’s cheese cave.
Raised in Buffalo, New York, Carolyn has lived in the Washington, D.C. region for more than 10 years, since graduating from George Washington University. She developed her affinity for fine cuisine early and began writing about it just out of college. Her fascination with cheese developed while she was working with the cheese program at Palena restaurant alongside former White House executive sous chef Frank A. Ruta. There she met Sue Conley, owner of the famed California-based cheese-maker Cowgirl Creamery, and soon went to work for Conley at the company’s Washington, D.C. store.

Carolyn works closely with her purveyors to ensure that she has on hand the “best of seasonal cheeses, and a selection of different textures and flavors from a variety of countries,” including cheese from Meadow Creek Dairy, a family-run farm in Galax, Virginia. Her presentation is personalized as well; every night she carefully arranges twenty or more varieties on a custom-made cheese trolley for the perusal of her patrons. After her entertaining and educational presentation, guests make their selections for either their starter course or grand finale.

Carolyn’s all-time favorite cheese is Sofia, a soft, bright goat’s milk cheese dusted in ash made by Capriole Farms in Indiana.

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About Gaylord National Resort
Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center opened April 25, 2008 along the banks of the Potomac River, less than eight miles south of the nation’s capital, in National Harbor, Md., a new 300-acre waterfront destination. The Gaylord National Resort is the largest combined hotel and convention center on the Eastern Seaboard, offering 2,000 guest rooms, including 110 lavish suites; more than 470,000 square feet of convention, meeting, exhibit and pre-function space; acclaimed restaurants; Relâche™ Spa; Pose Ultra Lounge; and a soaring 18-story, glass-covered atrium. For more information, visit www.gaylordnational.com.

John Muir

John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on 21 April 1838.
He died 24 December 1914 in California.

Indianapolis Connection: Muir settled in Indianapolis at the age of 28. From April 1866 to March 1867 he worked for carriage wheel manufacturer Osgood and Smith first as a sawyer and later as foreman.

After an industrial accident injured an eye, he resigned his job and moved to Wisconsin.

In August 1867 he began his famous thousand-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico and later settled in California where he worked to preserve natural resources.

(more to come)

Amelia Earhart

"In the fall of 1935, Amelia joined the faculty of Purdue University, serving as a counselor in the study of careers for women and an adviser in aeronautics. In July 1936, Amelia acquired a new Lockheed Electra airplane she called her “Flying Laboratory.” It was purchased with funds from the Purdue Research Foundation. With her new airplane, Amelia began seriously planning a world flight at the equator."

source: here.

Ku Klux Klan

D. C. Stephenson: here.

John Dillinger

John Dillinger (22 June 1903–22 July 1934) was a bank robber in the midwestern United States during the early 1930s.

He was born (and is buried) in Indianapolis.

Newest movie about his exploits is Public Enemies, out in 2009 and starring Johnny Depp as Dillinger. See this review in Slate.

Check out this post by Indy blogger Ruth Holladay about the whereabouts of, ahem, Dillinger's penis (or at least the photo of it).

And, the Indiana State Library, 315 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, has a Dillinger exhibit on display 15 July through 31 December 2009. The exhibit includes artifacts, photographs and documents to give visitors a look into the life of John Dillinger and what factors led this ordinary Hoosier farm boy towards a life of crime.

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger

Chesley Sullenberger, a pilot for US Airways since 1980, received a master's degree from Purdue University in 1973.

He's best known these days as the pilot of an Airbus A320 on US Airways Flight 1549, a commercial passenger flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, NC, that on 15 January 2009 successfully made an emergency landing in the Hudson River adjacent to Manhattan. All 155 occupants were safely evacuated.

Supreme Court Delays Sale of Chrysler to Fiat

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court agreed Monday afternoon [8 June 2009]to delay the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to Fiat pending further consideration of an appeal by three Indiana state funds and several consumer groups, in a move that injects a new element of uncertainty over the carmaker’s fate.

Read it all here.